Afternoon In The Garden

Afternoon In The Garden by Scott Ruthven
10"x8" Oil on canvas panel

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This is another piece I painted at the Grant Humphreys mansion during the Denver Plein Air Arts Festival in 2012.

The Three Kings

The Three Kings of Grant Humphreys By Scott Ruthven
10"x20" Oil on canvas panel

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There is a famous mansion in Denver built in 1902 for James Grant, who had been the third Governor of Colorado.  Grant died in 1911 and his widow sold the neoclassical mansion to an oil baron, Albert Humphreys, in 1917.  The mansion now belongs to the Colorado Historic Society and it is also on the National Register of Historic Places.  Here's a link to the Wikipedia article.

The 2012 Denver Plein Air Festival held a paint-out at the mansion which I attended and painted another piece (I'll post about it another time).  On my way back to my truck I happened to turn and look up to the second story finding these three identical windows with their majestic lions.  I knew I had to paint them.  So, with the sun almost gone I started sketching one of the windows to get a feel for the complex ornamentation.  Needless to say, I had to make two more trips to the mansion to complete the painting.

 And, adding some water stains on the wall:

Colorado State Capitol - Plein Air

There's Gold In Your Future by Scott Ruthven
Colorado State Capitol 7"x5" Oil on Panel

I painted this picture of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver as the sun went down.  The sunlight reflecting off of the gold dome was so beautiful and warm which contrasted with the cool shadow areas beneath the trees and the constant stream of brake lights on Colfax Avenue.